FRENCH BULLDOG STANDARD

General Appearance

Sturdy, compact , solid, small dog with good bone, short, smooth coat. No point exaggerated, balance essential. Dogs showing respiratory distress highly undesirable.

Characteristics

Full of courage, yet with clown-like qualities. Bat ears and short tail characteristic features of the breed.

Temperament

Vivacious, deeply affectionate, intelligent.

Head and Skull

Head square in appearance and in proportion to dog’s size. Skull nearly flat between ears, domed forehead. The skin covering the skull and forehead should be supple enough to allow the dog to show facial expression. Well defined muzzle, broad, deep and set back, muscles of cheeks well developed. Stop well defined. Lower jaw deep, square, broad, slightly undershot and turned up. Nose black and wide, relatively short, with open nostrils and line between well defined. Lips black, thick, meeting each other in centre, completely hiding teeth. Upper lip covers lower on each side with plenty of cushion, never so exaggerated as to hang too much below level of lower jaw.

Eyes

Preferably dark and matching. Moderate size, round, neither sunken nor prominent, showing no white when looking straight forward; set relatively wide apart and on same level as the stop.

Ears

’Bat ears‘, of medium size, wide at base, rounded at top; set high, carried upright and parallel, a sufficient width of skull preventing them being too close together; skin soft and fine, orifice as seen from the front, showing entirely. The opening to the ear canal should be wide and open.

Mouth

Slightly undershot. Teeth sound and regular, but not visible when the mouth is closed. Tongue must not protrude.

Neck

Powerful, well arched and thick, but not too short.

Forequarters

Legs set wide apart, straight boned, strong, muscular and short.

Body

Cobby, muscular and well rounded with deep wide brisket and ribs well sprung. Strong, gently roached back. Good ‘cut up’. The body while broader at the shoulders should narrow slightly beyond the ribs to give definition to the relatively short, thick, strong, muscular loin.

Hindquarters

Legs strong, muscular and relatively longer than forelegs with moderate angulation. Hocks well let down.

Feet

Small, compact and placed in continuation of line of leg, with absolutely sound pasterns. Hind feet rather longer than the fore-feet. Toes compact; well knuckled; nails short, thick and preferably black.

Tail

Undocked, short, set low, thick at root, tapering quickly towards tip, preferably straight and long enough to cover anus, never curling over back nor carried gaily.

Gait/Movement

Free and flowing. Soundness of movement of the utmost importance.

Coat

Texture fine, smooth, lustrous, short and close.

Colour

Brindle, pied or fawn. Tan, mouse and grey/blue highly undesirable.

- Brindle: a mixture of black and coloured hairs. May contain white provided brindle predominates.

- Pied: white predominates over brindle. Whites are classified with pieds for show purposes; but their eyelashes and eye rims should be black. In pieds the white should be clear with definite brindle patches and no ticking or black spots.

- Fawn: may contain brindle hairs but must have black eye lashes and eye rims.

Size

Ideal weight: dogs: 12.5 kgs (28 lbs); bitches: 11 kgs (24 lbs). Soundness not to be sacrificed to smallness.

Faults

Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect upon the health and welfare of the dog.

Note: Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.